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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- It was a joyous Homecoming for Alabama A&M.
The Bulldogs put together a yardage and time-gobbling offense with a smothering defense in a 27-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
With the win, A&M improves to 2-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and 2-3 overall. UAPB falls to 1-1, 2-3.
The Bulldogs are now 2-0 in the SWAC for the first time since 2012. Winners of five of their last six SWAC games, A&M travels to Baton Rouge to face Southern next Saturday.
Quarterback Aqeel Glass was 26 of 43 passing for 291 yards and receiver Octayvious Miles had his second consecutive game with 100 yards receiving.
Running back Trevon Walters rushed for 89 yards on 16 carries with a pair of touchdowns.
Defensively, the Bulldogs were devastating. They held the Golden Lions to just 133 total yards, including six sacks and seven tackles for loss.
Vernon Moland had 6 tackles, including a half-sack and half tackle for loss. Yurik Bethune had five tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Defensive back Devonte King electrified the crowd of 15,685 with his 23-yard "pick 6" that put the Bulldogs up 7-0 with just 2:09 gone in the game.
Nick Carden had a 18-yard field goal to widen the Bulldogs' lead to 10-0 with 4:45 to play in the quarter.
When Walters scored on his 19-yard run with 2:55 left in the second quarter, he put the Bulldogs up 17-0.
The Golden Lions scored with 1:08 left in the half to cut the margin to 17-7 at intermission.
A 22-yard field goal by Carden lifted A&M to a 20-7 lead with 8:05 to play in the third quarter.
UAPB countered with a Christian Jordan touchdown with 7:45 left in the game.
Walters provided the final margin on a 12-yard touchdown run with 2:11 left in the game.
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Jamaruz Thompkins rushed for 126 yards and Akevious Williams 102 to help Bethune-Cookman fend off Savannah State, 24-12 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game Saturday afternoon before a Municipal Stadium crowd of 6,945.
Both Thompkins, a redshirt senior from Tampa, and Williams, a redshirt sophomore from Madison, Florida, accounted for a touchdown for the Wildcats (2-3 overall, 1-1 MEAC) after Savannah State (0-4, 0-2) closed to within five points in the second half.
Thompkins' 69-yard burst with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter gave Bethune-Cookman a 17-5 lead.
After Savannah State closed to 17-12 on Rashad Saxton's 43-yard run with 7:28 remaining, Williams guided the Wildcats on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that produced his six-yard pass to Que'shaun Byrd with 2:21 to play. Williams rushed for 37 yards and passed for 26 on the march.
Byrd set up the touchdown with a 29-yard reverse on the previous play.
Saxton finished with 103 yards rushing for the Tigers.
Playing its first home game after opening the season with four road games, Bethune-Cookman scored on the game's opening drive when redshirt senior quarterback Larry Brihm, Jr. kept it on a 10-yard run six minutes into the contest.
Savannah State's first points came on a second quarter safety by Tyqueze Johnson.
The Wildcats defense, which held the Tigers to 163 total yards on the day, snuffed a golden opportunity when JaMicha Baldwin's 35-yard punt return put the visitors on the Wildcats' 13. However, the Tigers managed only a field goal by Giovanni Lugo that made it 10-5 with 4:05 left in the third quarter.
Uriel Hernandez accounted for the other BCU points on a 32-yard second quarter field goal.
Paced by Thompkins' and Williams' rushing, the Wildcats posted 397 total yards for the game. Williams was 8-of-11 passing for 58 yards, with Keavon Mitchell catching four passes for 14 yards.
Diquan Richardson and Marquis Hendrix each had seven tackles to lead a Wildcats defense that registered six sacks, including two from Deonte Mayo.
Bethune-Cookman gets back to action Saturday, Oct. 14, playing host to South Carolina State at Municipal Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
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HOUSTON, Texas – The Alcorn State University football program jumped out to a two-touchdown advantage in the first quarter and never surrendered the lead in a wire-to-wire 24-17 win over Texas Southern in a non-conference game Friday evening at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Alcorn (3-2, 1-0 SWAC) scored on its first drive of the game on a 45-yard pass to senior Norlando Veals. The Braves increased the edge to 14-0 after an eight-yard run by junior P.J. Simmons. The Tigers (0-4, 0-1 SWAC) could not get the deficit below seven points the rest of the way.
The Braves rushed for 244 yards as a team. Senior De'Lance Turner, the reigning SWAC Offensive Player of the Week winner, totaled 115 rushing yards. Simmons ended with 88 yards and a touchdown, while senior quarterback Lenorris Footman rushed for 41 yards and a score.
In the air, Footman threw for 241 yards and a touchdown. More than half of his yards went to Veals who hauled in six catches for 140 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Alcorn was led by junior Isiah Thomas who turned in a career game. He tripled his career-high with 13 tackles including three for a loss and also recorded an interception. Junior Leishaun Ealey notched eight tackles with a pair of pass break-ups.
Dominic DeLira threw for 183 yards for TSU.
After the Tigers went three-and-out on their first series of the game, Alcorn's offense wasted little time and scored on a 45-yard pass to Veals. It came on a slant route through the middle as Veals made the catch and then outran the Tigers defense to put Alcorn ahead 7-0 at the 12:17 mark. It was the third play of the drive, and came after a first down rush by Turner.
The Braves added-on another score late in the first quarter to make it 14-0. The drive was setup by a 38-yard completion to Veals as he was off to the races, but got tripped up at the last moment. Simmons did the rest from there, as he ran for the final 16 yards including an eight-yard touchdown rush along the right sideline.
The Tigers got on the board with a 93-yard kick return for a touchdown by Daequan Jones. It trimmed the deficit to 14-7 with 22 seconds left in the first quarter. Jones broke free after making one sharp cut along the left side and sped past the coverage for the score.
TSU was threatening again early in the second quarter after a 28-yard rush by Tylor Cook moved the ball to the Alcorn 31. Though, the Braves defense made a stand, and a 4th-and-7 attempt by the Tigers was broken up by junior OJ O'Neal on a pass over the middle.
Alcorn was looking to put points on the board late in the half. A screen pass to Turner went for 24 yards and placed the ball near midfield with 40 seconds left. On the next play, Footman completed a pass to junior Charles Hughes for a first down at the TSU 38, as Alcorn called its second timeout with 30 seconds remaining. A scramble for 20 yards and out-of-bounds by Footman stopped the clock with 21 seconds at the TSU 18.
After a pair of incomplete passes, the Braves settled for a 34-yard field goal attempt but it sailed wide-right. Alcorn held a 14-7 lead at the half.
The Braves came out hot in the second half, and completed a pair of quick passes to Veals and junior Tavares Johnson. A big run around the right corner by Turner nearly went for the score but he was tackled short at the one-yard line for a gain of 32. Footman kept it himself on the very next play for a one-yard touchdown run to the right to go up 21-7 with 13:29 remaining.
Midway through the third, the Tigers put together a long, 12-play drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run through the middle by Brad Woodard on a third-and-goal. It chopped the Alcorn lead back down to 21-14.
The Braves offense got going again early in the fourth quarter with a 42-yard run through the middle by Simmons. It helped increase the lead to 24-14 after sophomore Corey McCullough registered a 28-yard field goal with 11:21 to go.
TSU was able to make it a one-score game again with 4:58 in the fourth after Aaron Cuevas was successful on a 49-yard field goal attempt.
The Tigers had one last chance to tie the game as they took over at their own eight-yard line with 1:02 remaining and no timeouts. TSU converted one first down, but didn't get past its own 27-yard line.
The Braves have a short week coming up as they travel to Alabama State for a Thursday game at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Alcorn is 22-18 all-time against the Hornets and seeking its fourth straight win in the series. The Braves have gone undefeated against SWAC East Division opponents in back-to-back years. Alcorn will look to go 2-0 in league play for the fourth time in the last five years.
NOTES
- The Braves improved to 34-18-4 all-time against TSU. Alcorn defeated the Tigers for the sixth consecutive year.
- Alcorn held a large edge in total offense 485-295. The Braves entered the contest leading the league in total offense with 444.8 yards per outing.
- Footman moved up to No. 8 all-time in school history in career rushing yards with 1,774. He surpassed Perry Qualls who rushed for 1,754 yards from 1982-85. Footman is also No. 8 in touchdown passes with 29, and 10th in passing yards with 3,545.
- Turner entered the game leading the SWAC in rushing with 111.0 yards per game and will improve upon his tally with 115. He averaged 6.1 yards per carry on 19 rushes.
- Veals entered the contest averaging 4.5 receptions per game which ranked third in the conference. He pulled in six with a long of 45 yards.
- McCullough booted five punts for 213 yards. He averaged 42.6 yards per punt which was on-par with his league-leading 43.1 yards entering the game.
- Thomas' interception was the first of his career. His previous career-high in tackles was four against Southern last week.
- Alcorn's captains were juniors Brandon Campbell and Marquis Warford, and sophomore Solomon Muhammad and Warford. The Braves won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Quoting Alcorn head coach Fred McNair
Opening Statement
"We didn't play our kind of football tonight. We have to look at this game and figure out how we can get better. It includes all phases of the game. I have to give Coach Haywood a lot of credit because he's done a great job at Texas Southern. But we looked like a bad football team tonight."
On being able to win on the road even when you don't play your best
"Well it's always tough to win on the road. Though tonight, we just didn't execute or stay focused. The penalties continue to just kill us. It's tough to run the offense when we're always playing from behind the chains. We may have to move around some pieces on the offensive line, but overall we just didn't play well tonight."
On Isiah Thomas
"It was a great effort by him. He came out tonight and really played hard. He's a guy who continues to improve every week and we're getting a lot of production out of him."
On a short week coming up against Alabama State
"We'll have a practice Sunday, and then go again Monday and Tuesday. We'll be back on the road Wednesday and it's obviously a big game. Hopefully, we'll bounce back from this and play better. When we execute, we're a great football team. I'm glad we won tonight, but the way we played is not our brand of football."
NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Gabriel Niculescu defeated teammate Pierre Andrieu 6-3, 7-5 Thursday to win the men's singles consolation title of the ITA NAIA South Regional Championships.
Niculescu went 4-0 in the consolation rounds after losing in the main draw Friday at Lawrenceville, Ga. Niculescu and Andrieu could've played Sunday in Lawrenceville after winning semifinal matches that morning, but XULA coach Alan Green opted to play the match on his campus because of a seven-hour drive home and classes resuming Monday.
Niculescu and Andrieu finally met after a Tuesday rainout. Both are juniors. Niculescu is in his first year at XULA after transferring from NCAA Division I member Troy, and Andrieu is a returning letterman who helped the Gold Rush finish second in the NAIA National Championships for the second straight year.
The next XULA tournament — its third of the fall semester — will be the Battle of the Bayou (men only) Oct. 6-7 at Lafayette, La.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Danny Johnson came close to breaking a couple punt returns for touchdowns last week against Alcorn State, so close that he figured a score was right around the corner.
“I had been talking to the guys all week, saying, ‘We got close last week, we’re going to get one,’” Johnson said.
He didn’t have to wait long. Johnson shrugged off a would-be tackler on his first punt return opportunity Saturday and weaved his way through the remainder of the Fort Valley coverage unit for a 68-yard punt return touchdown.
It was the second score of Johnson’s career as a punt returner, something he didn’t get much of an opportunity to do with Willie Quinn serving as Southern’s top return man the past few seasons.
Johnson had ceded some return chances to freshman Jamar Washington in recent weeks, but Saturday he was the top option on the punt and kick return teams.
“In the return game, he’s got a chance to create some opportunities for us to get some points,” said Southern coach Dawson Odums. “That’s the second week in a row he’s had big returns.
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- A physically spent Southern coach Dawson Odums slumped into his chair after his team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 31-14 win against Fort Valley State.
He let out a breath that, to the listener, could’ve been heavy with either relief or exasperation depending on what he was about to say regarding his senior quarterback, Austin Howard, who watched the second half in a sweat suit from the sidelines with an apparent injury.
Howard had already missed two games with injury. He lost his top receiver, Randall Menard, for the season last week against Alcorn State. The team’s leading rusher, Devon Benn, left the game with an injury in the first quarter Saturday and did not return.
“I might go get some treatment,” Odums said as he slid into his chair. “I might as well go get in line with the rest of them.”
The night had its scares, but it seemed as if Odums and Southern (2-3) dodged any more significant injuries against Fort Valley State (1-3).
LANGSTON, Oklahoma -- Langston University shut out visiting Texas Wesleyan 34-0 to hand the Rams their fifth straight loss in their first season of college football since 1941.
The victory improved 11th-ranked Langston to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the Central States Football League. Texas Wesleyan (0-5, 0-2) has been outscored 190-41 this season.
Despite the lopsided score, the Rams defense showed marked improvement by forcing four fumbles and netting two sacks.
Looking for a spark, the Rams gave backup quarterback Colby Reed the starting nod, but Wesleyan managed just 144 yards on 66 plays from scrimmage for the game.
Reed finished the first half 2-of-8 for 14 yards with an interception, paving the way for first-teamer Kane Hardin to take over in the second half. Hardin didn’t fare much better, completing 3 of 10 passes for 39 yards and an interception.
Wide receiver Anthony Caston led the Rams with three catches for 50 yards. Defensive end Dylan Briscoe finished with six tackles and a sack.
